My Little London

In my Hood

2005-08-06T16:25:00.000+01:00

Before the bombings there was quite a media focus in the UK on another kind of terror:
YOUTH!
Unruly youth, especially those wearing hooded sweatshirts.
These BBC news headlines should give you the general idea:
'Hoodies' hunted after vandalism
School ban outlaws 'hoodies'
Visitor rise at 'hoodie' ban mall

A few people warned me to avoid these young hooded folk - they might steal my mobile, or beat me up on the bus. One young man in a hood did cut in front of me in line at the newsagent, and another bumped into me with this backpack saying "Oh, sorry!"

I noticed evidence of the hoodie gangs rallying together, and photographed this sign posted near the Elephant and Castle tube station:

Filth

2005-07-31T20:19:00.000+01:00

There's no two ways about it - London is filthy.
Twice I've trodden on gum, there's crap all over the sidewalks (more or less, depending on what neighbourhood you're in), there aren't enough garbage receptacles and people don't use them.
Shoes on seats is a common sight, as are sticky wrappers and empty soda cans on public transport. It's gross, especially after coming from pristine Japan.

It's not that the British are less tidy than the Japanese. I saw plenty of public littering on the streets of Hiroshima. It's just that there was more street cleaning there, and less here, and filth begets filth.

But the architecture is better here and views from the train are beautiful.

Books

2005-07-31T19:01:00.000+01:00

If time can be measured, why not in books?
Here's my time in London - 7 weeks, 5 days

Travels with my Aunt - Graham Greene
Recommended. Lovely calm read, quietly funny story of late life change, unexpected family connection and mind-opening travel.

The Secret History - Donna Tartt
Interesting fun book exploring the nature of guilt - in the mood for a bit of Greek academia, friendships gone wrong and murder?

Half in Love - Justin Cartwright
Recommended. Nature of intimacy painfully examined, also horses and acting, class and politics, celebrity and scandal. Too bad about the lengthy family history bits, but they don't spoil the rest.

The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Life as seen from murdered young girl's heaven. Too light and bland for me, but a bestseller.

Riddley Walker - Russell Doban
Challenging read in fantasy post-nuclear dialect. Not recommended for learners of English. For the rest of you, try reading it out loud. Very interesting, but lost me 3/4 of the way through. A mental exercise, and an experience.

Two Buses

2005-07-18T19:32:00.000+01:00

Bus 1
I've been working in Soho, a trendy area of London near Oxford Circus tube station. I've experimented with the various ways of making it there and back from my neighbourhood, and one morning took the #12 bus, which takes me from Peckham to Oxford Circus in about 45 minutes. It was crowded (as usual), a bit hot that morning, and tensions are running high due to bombings - I think. But I couldn't have been prepared for the fight that broke out - the first I've ever seen between two women! Things quickly escalated from an accidental elbow in the back to a slap in the head and a wild offensive attack by the slapped. Full on screaming and arms a flailing. Amazing! No cat scratching, just a full on fight.
And one of them women (the guilty crazier one, I think) had her 8-year old daughter with her, who was crying of course from the intensity of the scene. Poor thing.
No, it's not dangerous on buses for you or for me, but this is the sort of bizarre thing I see from time to time. Bitch fight!

Bus 2
I was walking near the Angel tube station the other day, when the bus drove by.
The bus.
The one that was bombed in the July 7 attacks at Tavistock Square.
It was covered in a blue tarp, and surrounded by a police escort. Later that day the news reported that it had been moved to an undisclosed location for more forensic examinations. I was standing in the middle of a crowd of people at a stoplight when it went by. The mood was palpably tense and someone whispered "that's the bus" as it went by.
Just a small example of how things occasionally hit home.
A reminder, when the everyday of London life rules, that something significant has happened.

Onwards

2005-07-11T21:09:00.000+01:00

I still feel quite removed from all that's happened in the city - the bombings and the aftermath seem like they are happening somewhere far away.
I'm getting out and doing things, as usual, just like the authorities suggest that people should.

Sunday was a gorgeous day and I enjoyed toodling around Camden Lock Market. As I wandered I found myself eavesdropping on a couple of hippy-stylish Japanese girls, and their conversation. I feel so drawn to them and the many other Japanese I've encountered/walked past/overheard here. I guess I'm homesick.

Today began badly.
On my way to "work" (work=job searching via computer) I had overwhelming feelings of the futility of this process. I'm glad I'm here, and am starting to enjoy myself quite a bit, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to be here long-term. That makes a long contract job search seem rather futile!
I was lucky to get in touch with Spencer, and as always he was amazing and supportive.
Somehow he got me back on my mental feet, and mid-coversation (via landline) I got a call on my mobile and a job offer.
It's short term, and it's not well paid, but it might be interesting and lead to other things.
So, hurray.
I expect it will last from tomorrow (immediate start!) until July 25th, which is perfect, as on July 26th I'm off to Prague for a Euro-adventure. That's right, I'll have worked a whole 2 weeks, so I'll need a holiday.

And just when one has forgotten that life is anything but lovely...
I came across this woman's account of her experiences of the bombing and afterwards.
The BBC is providing good coverage.

Went out for a walk to Battersea Park this afternoon at 4.00
It's nice. I walked through about half of it (it's big!) and found myself at the St. Albert's Bridge
which I crossed, then a stroll by the river and back across the Battersea Bridge before heading home.

right: Swan in Battersea Park

left: Albert Bridge in the sunshine

Lucky ?

2005-07-09T09:30:00.000+01:00

I was not in London on the day of the explosions.
I was in the countryside in Wales.

Live 8

2005-07-03T07:58:00.000+01:00

I worked at an event at the London Zoo last night (a ritzy barmitzfah at the zoo's "Bug House"), and coming out around 10.45 I heard cheers and music - unmistakably Live 8 festivities. Following the sounds and light, I walked and found myself in Regent's Park where there was a huge screen and thousands of people watching the Live 8 concerts, as broadcast from around the world. I heard Nelson Mandela's speech and Roxy Music play in Berlin. I wish I could have seen it all.
There's obviously been a big buzz about Live 8 and of course the G8, soon in Scotland.
Countless people with white wristbands, a symbol of the Make Poverty History campaign. People seem to be talking about it too, and the media coverage is full on.
I wonder if it's touching Hiroshima at all...somehow I don't think Africa is big on the agenda out there. But it could be.

emoticons stink

2005-07-01T13:09:00.000+01:00

Am I the only person who can hardly understand, and really loathes those damned "faces" people make with punctuation marks to show how they're really feeeeeeling in an email or text message?

Fear

2005-06-24T21:42:00.000+01:00

Before leaving Japan I had several conversations with different people about safety. I felt so safe in Japan - everywhere, all the time. In more than two years, I never had a moment where I felt threatened by anyone. Fear and security are personal and subjective things I guess.

I sometimes had to hold back scoffs and giggles whenever a student, friend or colleague might mention how Hiroshima is not as safe as it used to be, or that Nagarakawa at night was very dangerous and dodgy. But I guess it's important to be aware of the limits of others, and where they feel safe and in danger too. I'm highly suspicious though of those feelings which are so obviously a result of a bullying media.

But coming here, I knew - instinctively and through the many reminders I got from others, that London would not be the same. That I should be much more careful, on my guard, suspicious and even afraid than I ever was or had to be in Japan.

So arriving, I had a heightened awareness of all the fairly terrible things that could happen here. To me. Alone.
So arriving in the heart of Peckham - certainly the most dangerous neighbourhood I've ever lived in was a tough start.
I remember the first night I came home late, alone. I was struggling with the bolt lock on the door. I couldn't turn the key and I couldn't get into the apartment. I struggled for at least 10 minutes, and then heard a knock on the glass door behind me. That door separated me from the street, and I didn't recognize the man on the other side. He didn't look threatening, and he seemed to be searching for keys which suggested that he lived in the building too in one of the other apartments. And the fact was that it was late, and I wasn't going to be able to get into my apartment without someone helping me. I couldn't turn the key alone, and this man's arrival was my chance.
So I let him in.
He was stinking drunk, and I figured that if I needed to, I could pretty easily topple him over.
And I asked for his help, and he managed to get the door open for me, then stumbled upstairs to his own apartment.
And that's the end of the story.
Except for that is started me thinking about fear in a concentrated way.

And now it's a few weeks past that, and I'm rarely afraid anymore. Nervous and cautious most of the time, but I feel that I'm fitting in here more and more. I'm outrageously annoyed sometimes with this neighbourhood and with the city, but rarely afraid.

Apes and drums for free

2005-06-21T20:49:00.000+01:00

I buy Time Out on Wednesday and see what's on for the upcoming week. Too much to pack in! I need to stop having fun and find a job.
Today I ventured out to the Natural History Museum. It's a large beautiful building within endless interesting exhibits. I walked around the permanent collections for a couple of hours (didn't even get to half of what was on offer), and spent some time in the Face to Face photo exhibit by . Wonderful collection of photos of apes, and their "bios".
Walking outside on the lawn, a great surprise! The Exhibition Road Music Festival was on today, and I caught the end of a huge steel drum band doing "Every Breath you Take". Brilliant, tinny plings!
And the great thing is, all of it was free. London has so much to offer for free. Several of the museums and galleries as well as other things happening around town have no admission charge at all. Art and activity for everyone. Automatic for the People.

London Goodies and Baddies

2005-06-19T21:29:00.000+01:00

Here are a few things I've seen and heard, done and eaten in London this week:

PITA, WHOLE WHEAT, GRAINS, FRESH & CHEAP
Brilliant Sophocles bakery in nearby Camberwell. Or just brilliant bread in general. Fresh, and a variety of it too. Not just the tasteless, doughy super-white cake-ish crap we find in Fresta, Daiei, Spark and the like.

H2ONo
The water here tastes like dirty shitty chemical shit.
Absolutely Disgusting.
Hiroshima's water is liquid gold compared to the piss of London's taps.

AND YOU THOUGHT IT WAS A RIP-OFF BACK HOME...
A short Starbucks latte costs about 390yen in Hiro. A short Starbucks latte costs about 2.60gbp (520yen) Jayzus, how addicted to the stuff must people be here? The line was out the door, and there are 3 different locations within about 7 minutes walk (Oxford St. near Bond tube station) Thank the coffee gods for Pret a Manger cafe mocha (1.50gbp or 300yen)

LOVING CHILDCARE
Picture three strollers parked outside a newsagent, 2 quiet babies and one crying toddler. Watching over them, an elderly fella - very smartly dressed in jacket with cap - stoic, but ignoring the sad, fussy child. Just as I'm walking past though, he says to the crying demon - well, hisses actually: "SHUT IT". Very nice, gramps.

GET YER BAPS OUT
I haven't seen much of the really immodest dressing that I was told abounds here. I think they do more of that up north in Geordie-land.

JAYWALKING
I'm starting to get the hang of jaywalking here, but it's still surprising and dangerous! Very helpfully, the government (?) has had directions painted on the road, reminding you when you're about to step to your death to "Look Right" or "Look Left". Very handy if you're used to traffic coming from the other direction. Some might say "Why don't you just not jaywalk, dear?" While that seems a sensible suggestion, it just isn't really an acceptable option. When I've been in a timid mood, there patiently for the little green man to let me know it's ok to go, drivers stopped at the light stare at me and sometimes (twice now) have given me the head nod "Go on girl, what the hell you waiting for there like a knob - get going like other busy people of London who've got places to go" So it's either get the hang of it, look a fool, or get crushed by a vehicle. Crash course you might call it, hardy har har.

TEETH KISSING
I have never heard so much kissing of teeth in my life. Every day. And it curdles my blood and makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

Flat Hunt

2005-06-15T10:00:00.000+01:00

"Welcome" mat at Barrington House, my first (temporary) home.

When I arrived in London, my first priority was finding a flat to rent. To save money and perhaps make friends or contacts in a city where I know no one, I decided to share a place with others. It's common for people to rent rooms of their apartment/house in order to help cope with the astronomical rents here.

THE FLATS:

1. TIM
- way out in the middle of nowhere, SouthEast, not all that far away from fucking Kent.
- freelance writer, mostly for mens mags
- nice guy, not creepy, made me a nice cup of tea (put milk in w/o asking if I wanted it - Alex says this is how everyone does it in England and now I think he's right)
- bought the house last year, been working on it, but still a real fixer-uper.
- nice bed (the one that would be mine. People who show me their houses never show me their rooms (one girl excepted).
- surrounded by green area, cheap place, but no way b/c it's truly in the middle of nowhere and it's kind of a smallish boys place.
- oh, he said he'd teach me how to use the "decks" of which he has several set up in the living room as well as a wall full of vinyl. thanks anyway.

2. JAYNE
- I got all the way out to fucking BARKING (east, zone 4) and waited around for a while at the very sketchy station, then left because she never showed and her mobile was switched off. bitch.
- she did email though saying sorry, the room had been filled and her mobile battery had died and it sounded all legit and she ended with god bless.
- wouldn't have wanted to live in that distant and scary neighbourhood anyway.

3. MARYCLARE
- 48 year old artist. She's lived in the house for almost 10 years. It's small, but she's done a beautiful job fixing it up. She's nice and normal too - reminds me of my Aunt Barbara.
- nice kitchen with big table and door out to small back garden. No sitting room/lounge though.
- Two bedrooms - bit shabby but pleasant. Nice bathroom. I would share with one other as she has her own bathroom/bedroom downstairs. oh, the bedrooms are on the first floor (one up from the ground - am I saying it right? the British way?)which is a plus for me.
- hmmm, the problems: I don't know who will end up in the other room, although she seems very sensible and says she doesn't allow anyone to live there who she isn't comfortable with.
- Also, it's in Peckham, not too far from where I'm staying now and it's somewhat questionable. Let me explain...
Anna's place is about halfway between Camberwell and Peckham. Camberwell is alright - a bit dirty and rough round the edges, but there's a decent bit of green, even a nice park, so so slightly grotty shops, cute library, leisure centre where anna goes for yoga, arts college and south london gallery which is very nice.
That's all about five to 8 minutes away from us (to the left). Five minutes the other way is Peckham. It gets tough there, bit gross actually. I'm not scared, more just uncomfortable. The shops are bad (Alex would laugh, there's a LiDl!) I had a small altercation in the library with a man who was standing too close and bullying me with his staring eyes to get off the computer. The neightbourhood is not very multicultural - it's almost exclusively Afro/Caribbean with a bit of Turkish here and there. The atmosphere is aggressive and very foreign to me.
Anyway beyond these tough few blocks things mellow out a bit, but it's still not what I'd call a good neighbourhood. Maryclare is about an 8 min walk beyond the Peckham action and there's not much around. She's nested in behind the main (where there's a lot of construction going on - yuck) on a rather nice, neighbourhoody type street. She called the area "funky" and told me if I was sensibly dressed and didn't walk around with a lot of jewellry or a sparkly phone that I'd be alright.
- it's 2 minutes from hers to the Queens Road Station, and only 6 minutes to London Bridge from there. Probably under 30 to the west end. Although the trains only run about every 15 minutes. I tried it today and it seemed good.
- The Queens rd. station is a dump though. Maryclare said there is a camera there, and usually cops which she finds comforting.
- Have I said enough here? Frankly it's the one I'm leaning towards.
- oh, last but not least, she is okay with you joining me there and making it into a love nest.

4. VIK
- East London, took a while to get there - too long actually, but the walk from station to his place was pleasant and the neighbourhoods seened decent-nice. Nice Lloyd Park nearby had face painting for kids and lawn bowling for elderly in smart white getups.
- Nicely decorated flat, but crap layout. Series of small rooms off long, narrow corridor. v.nice bathroom
No dining room or place to eat, the common room was very Man-Boy with 3 guitars on stands that I doubt he could play, a big flatscreen tv and manly leather couches. We sat in there for a few minutes chatting, and he kept the volume of the tv way up the whole time. I refused a drink. Oh, and...vik:"I've got loads of friends...I go out all the time...I work in SOHO and I go out after work with my friends every day...I don't use the garden because I'm usually hungover when I'm home because I've loads of friends and I go out in SOHO all the time, after work, with my mates"
- screw off

5. MEG
- normal, ginger haired, American girl, member of the London ultimate frisbee team (aka professional athlete), moving out of her room to move in with her boyfriend (aka SINNER)
- Brilliant area, near Angel station. Nice place, but too expensive. Ad price didn't include bills, or the fee for the cleaner who they hire in. Also, it would mean my name on a 6 month lease, and I'm commitment-phobic.

6. NIALL & DANAE
- Great flat - bit sterile b/c everything is so new. It's a new condo with beautiful views of Canary Wharf and the river from the bedroom and the gorgeous big balcony (with bbq).
- They're ok. He's rich (he owns the place) and a bit of a snob perhaps "I like the security of the area. People who get off at this stop are professionals, not from council flats. But I grew up in a council flat, but still, you want to feel safe, right?" etc
- she's a teacher, from Australia
- they are clearly recruiting a 3rd roomate who wants to hang out with them, watch movies, cook dinner, etc.
- it's too far away and I'm too short-term for their liking I think. Also, a couple would not bode well with them. I like the opportunity to socialize, and the flat is luxurious, but I'm passing.

This summary does not include the people I called who had already found someone for their previously available room, or the people I called who sounded too freakish or daft to bother going to meet.

It's strange though thinking about all of this, with one third (or so) of my mind looking back to life in Hiroshima. Makes it harder to move forward here.

The Idea

2005-06-14T19:57:00.000+01:00

The idea: move from Hiroshima, Japan to London, UK.
Explore, work, live.

This blog is to keep the curious in touch with how my adventures are going, and perhaps it may double as a small resource of information about Hiroshima or London (or even my home country, Canada) in case anyone is considering making a similar leap backwards, forwards or beyond.